Sri Lanka wary of crisis-hit Pakistan

Oct 17, 2006

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene has warned his team against taking a depleted Pakistan side lightly in Tuesday's Champions Trophy Group B tie.
Pakistan strike bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif were withdrawn from the tournament on Monday after the pair returned positive tests for the steroid nandrolone in pre-tournament tests conducted at home.
Pakistan cricket is still reeling from a ball-tampering fiasco which caused the team to forfeit the recent fourth test against England at The Oval, controversy over the captaincy and the resignation of board chairman Shaharyar Khan.
However, even without the injured Shoaib, Pakistan were still strong enough to defeat hosts Sri Lanka in the test and one-day series in March-April.
Jayawardene said his team would miss the challenge of facing Shoaib, one of the most colourful characters in cricket and rated the sport's fastest bowler along with Australia's Brett Lee.
The incident is the biggest to hit cricket since Australia's Shane Warne was withdrawn prior to the 2003 World Cup in South Africa after testing positive for a diuretic and subsequently banned for one year.
Shoaib missed the Sri Lanka tour as he underwent knee arthroscopy and recovered from ankle injury, returning only for last month's one-day series in England.
Sri Lanka eye their 11th consecutive one-day victory on Tuesday after skittling out defending champions West Indies for 80 in their nine-wicket victory in the final qualifier on Saturday.
Sri Lanka team (from) : Mahela Jayawardene (Captain), Marvan Atapattu, Sanath Jayasuriya, Upul Tharanga, Kumar Sangakkara, Tillakaratne Dilshan, Chamara Kapugedara, Farveez Maharoof, Chaminda Vaas, Ruchira Perera, Dilhara Fernando, Lasith Malinga, Muttiah Muralitharan and Malinga Bandara.
Pakistan team (from) : Younis Khan (Captain), Shoaib Malik, Muhammad Hafeez, Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Naved-ul-Hasan, Faisal Iqbal, Imran Farhat, Rao Iftikhar and Umar Gul.

Champions Trophy Group B: Pakistan vs Sri Lanka [Q1], Jaipur

Venue

Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur

The Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur is the most refurbished of the four venues with floodlights now installed. The ground will host six matches, including Englands pre-Ashes tie against Australia on October 21.